UK farmers urged to vaccinate calves against pneumonia - Cowsmo

UK farmers urged to vaccinate calves against pneumonia

Less than 25% of farmers use a calf vaccination as a preventative measure against pneumonia, which in turn costs the UK cattle industry around £60 per year.

That was the stark warning from animal health company, Merial, who launched a national awareness campaign this week to encourage farmers to consider vaccinating calves has been launched.

The company claims that calf pneumonia affects an estimated 1.9m animals per year, which can cause significant losses on farm with each dairy calf costing in the region of £43, while a beef-bred calf is virtually double that.

Figures from a UK-wide cattle survey carried out in July and August 2017, into calf pneumonia on beef and dairy farms found that 98% of cattle units surveyed had at least one case in the past year.

ri-val-re_calfbarn1-copyIn small herds of 100 cows or less, 90% of farmers reported between 1 and 10 cases of calf pneumonia in the past year. In medium-sized herds of between 101 and 250 cows, 82% of farmers reported between 1 and 20 cases.

Sioned Timothy, ruminant technical manager for Merial Animal Health, said calf pneumonia continues to be a “serious issue” for the cattle industry.

“In recent years farmers have taken great strides to improve housing and calf husbandry to reduce disease outbreaks, but incidence remains high.

“While 38% of farmers surveyed said cases of calf pneumonia had decreased over the past three years, 41% said the number had stayed the same and 21% said they had seen an increase in cases. This suggests that farmers need to re-evaluate the steps they are taking to combat the disease.”

While the cost of calf pneumonia is well documented, the survey responses also highlighted its non-financial impact, particularly on staff time and stress.

The top six biggest impacts reported by farmers through the survey were: increased costs from vet treatment and medicines (66%), loss of income through less productive calves (63%), loss of income from dead/culled calves (49%), increased time to finishing/bulling (29%), staff stress (35%), and increased staff time and costs (32%).

Calf husbandry plays an important role in preventing calf pneumonia and farmers indicated they implement a range of measures on farm.

The survey found that 87% give colostrum within four hours of birth, 85% house calves in similar age groups, 69% have focussed on optimising housing conditions and ventilation, and 47% use calf jackets during cold weather.

However, less than a quarter of respondents (24%) use calf vaccination and only 8% use dam vaccination as a method to prevent disease.

Where farmers are vaccinating calves against calf pneumonia, they report improved health, reduced medicine and vet costs and improved growth in some cases.

Responding to a question about observed differences in calves vaccinated against calf pneumonia compared to unvaccinated animals, 67% of farmers reported reduced incidences of disease, 55% found calves had improved health and wellbeing, 53% had observed a reduction in the use of antibiotics and 31% required fewer visits from their vet.

Over a quarter of respondents to this question (26%) observed higher or faster weight gain in calves to one year old.

Vaccination
When asked why farmers were choosing not to vaccinate against calf pneumonia, 31% of farmers said they weren’t sure of the benefits while 25% felt the upfront cost of vaccination is too expensive.

When it comes to measures planned to prevent calf pneumonia this winter, only 17% of respondents said they plan to vaccinate calves within two weeks of birth, and only 9% plan to vaccinate calves up to one year old.

The low numbers of farmers taking up vaccination is of huge concern when the industry has to take steps to reduce antibiotic use, according to Ms Timothy.

“Calf pneumonia is a multi-factorial disease, caused by a complex interaction between viruses and bacteria, management practices and the environment.

“Good control strategies should address the wide range of risk factors that contribute to disease, and implementing an appropriate vaccination programme as part of this will further enhance the resilience of calves to infection.”

The vaccination awareness campaign was launched to educate farmers, share experiences, and increase the number of calves vaccinated against calf pneumonia, to improve the health of the national calf herd.

“The vaccination awareness campaign aims to improve animal health and protect the productivity and profitability of British beef and dairy farms.

“We urge farmers to speak to their vet at the earliest opportunity to discuss the most appropriate option for their farm, before the winter housing period,” concludes Ms Timothy.

 

Source: the Scottish Farmer

Scroll to Top